Conference of the Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations

The X Plenary Meeting of the Conference of Marxist-Leninist
Parties and Organisations met in Ecuador, which has undertaken a heavy agenda.
In a fraternal atmosphere, in which the Ecuadorian comrades have displayed an
extraordinary activity and created optimum conditions, plenary sessions were
held to discuss and analyse political-ideological problems both on a national
level for each organisation, as on an international level.

Having discussed and examined the balance sheet of the tasks
carried out since the previous plenary meeting, we moved to discuss the
situation in Venezuela and the opportunist role in all aspects carried out by
the organization Red Flag, which in the whole process of convulsions and
struggles has gone over to the side of reaction. Organisational measures were
presented toward that organisation, which at the right moment will be made
public. For the moment, we are bringing to light the document approved, document
which we want to be spread widely. Thus, we will not only delineate ourselves
from opportunism which once again, we make clear to certain sectors determined
to link us to BR that our organisation and the International Conference have
always been clear about the situation and the need to fight against those
positions.

Thus has been done, with a great deal of patience and more
firmness, in various bilateral and multilateral meetings until this Plenary of
December 2004.

Finally a new Coordinating Committee was elected and set the
site of the next Conference and resolutions were adopted on the situation in
Iraq, Palestine, the war in the Ivory Coast, against the European Constitution,
the FTAA and the Sahara…

During the stay in Ecuador, the parties and delegations
present placed a plaque on the statue erected in memory of comrade Jaime Hurtado,
murdered by assassins of the oligarchy. This was an emotional act in the plaza
of the city where Jaime was born, Esmeraldas, with offerings of flowers and
emotional speeches of various political organisations. Raúl Marco spoke in the
name of the present delegations.

On the Situation in Venezuela

Within the International Conference of Marxist-Leninists
Parties and Organisations there has been taken up, in the context of the debate
on other questions, the situation of Venezuela and the positions and actions of
the Red Party Flag.

That treatment of the problem has led us to the analysis of
the political situation in Venezuela as well as the relations among the
fraternal parties and the norms of the Conference themselves.

That discussion, until now, was not carried out in a specific
way, focusing on the phenomena in a multilateral way and to arrive at
conclusions.

Meanwhile, the events in Venezuela have been developing at
great speed and their importance goes beyond the borders and affects
international politics, particularly in Latin America.

For these reasons the X Plenary of the International
Conference of Marxist-Leninists Parties and Organizations assumes the
responsibility to dealing with this question and taking positions.

I. In Venezuela a social and political process is
developing that involves millions of the popular masses, the working class, the
peasantry, the youth; all social classes, various parties and social and
political organisations.

That process has been taking place for years, but recently,
its intensity and development have had massive dimensions and a high degree of
conflict. That situation calls on us the revolutionary proletarians, the men and
women of the left, the democrats, the patriots, the social fighters to take
part, to express our point of view and above all, to manifest solidarity and
support to the progressive forces that are confronting U.S. imperialism and the
Venezuelan oligarchy.

II. The sharpening of the crisis of every kind that
Venezuela experienced had as results, in little more than ten years, the
political break and the confusion of the traditional political parties and large
expressions of the popular mobilisation against exploitation and imperialist-
bourgeois oppression.

The COPEI and AD (Social-Christians and Social-Democrats)
that alternated in power were shaken by the crisis, decomposed to the bone by
corruption and displaced from government by populist expressions, originating
from the oligarchic sectors themselves.

The neo-liberal policies promoted by imperialism and its
allies, the Venezuelan big bourgeoisie, have sharpened the crisis and
accentuated the dependence.

The policies of privatisation, repression and deceit, the
deindustrialisation of the country have provoked an increase in unemployment, a
greater impoverishment of the workers and have promoted discontent and yearning
for change among the popular masses and the youth.

III. Since the so-called ‘Caracazo’ in February of 1989,
through the military uprisings of 1992, there has taken place an important
development of the struggle of the labouring masses and the youth in Venezuela
that aimed at the defeat of the government and aspired to social change.

The struggle of the Venezuelan people had social and
political expressions of great importance: this was manifested in the strikes of
the workers, in the street battles of the youth, in great mobilisations against
corruption, in actions for freedom and democracy, in the search for political
alternatives, in the formation of blocs and alliances in the popular sphere, in
the participation in the elections with their own alternatives.

We can affirm without making a mistake that Venezuela is
undergoing a general increase in the struggle of the masses, that the cities and
countryside were the scene of confrontation between the yearnings for freedom of
those at the bottom and the anti-popular and anti-national policies of the
bourgeoisie and imperialism.

IV. In 1998 an important sector of the Venezuelan people,
of the democratic political and left-wing parties and organisations took part in
the electoral process with a different alternative. They supported the candidacy
of Colonel Hugo Chávez and an alternative proposal to those of the traditional
political parties.

In 1992 Hugo Chávez led a military uprising against the
government of Carlos Andrés Pérez, was persecuted and imprisoned for several
years; he represented for a good part of the Venezuelan people the military
rebel who rose up against corruption and the hunger-producing politics of the
oligarchy, who meant hope and an expectation of change.

Chávez put forth a combative discourse against corruption and
privileges, of open confrontation with the traditional parties; he emerged with
a proposal of change, he proposed to put an end to social inequalities and to
confront the great problems of Venezuela and its people.

The yearning for change of the popular masses, the exhaustion
and discredit of the bourgeois parties, the increase in the social struggle were
channelled toward the alternative electoral proposal by Chávez and he won the
elections in the first round.

That victory awoke great hopes and expectations in Venezuela
and beyond its borders, in particular in Latin America.

V. In Government, Chávez proposed some political changes;
he called for the Constituent Assembly and in that way institutionalised some
social gains for the labouring masses, some democratic norms and, to some
degree, new roads for changes in the economic and social life emerge.

That new Constitution does not change the social order, the
capitalist institutions are consecrated as are the political norms, but
evidently this means important advances in the Venezuelan legislation, in the
force of democratic political rights, of the public liberties.

VI. The government of Chávez had and counts on important
material resources coming from the international price of the petroleum.

With those means it has promoted deeds that benefit of the
most impoverished sectors of Venezuelan society and has succeeded in increasing
its social base.

It is carrying out a campaign to eliminate illiteracy,
strengthen the public schools and allow access to these by millions of
Venezuelans who did not have it, provided the popular sectors with access to
health care, promoted a new agrarian reform that affects State and unproductive
lands and those of the large landlords.

VII. Chávez organized a political party (the Bolivarian
Movement of the V Republic) that allowed it, in alliance with other
organizations, to win the elections. That party is not an instrument of the
government and of the leadership of the masses. It is drowned in ideological
dispersion and in the webs of corruption.

Other parties and political organisations of the left that
take part in the government have little meaning and scarce capacity for carrying
out the social and political process that is developing in great dimensions.

Chávez has achieved a good level of communication with the
people and the youth, he is the indisputable leader of the process.

VIII. The government of Chávez has not changed the nature
of the economic and political regime of Venezuela, but it is affecting, to some
degree, the interests of the big bourgeoisie and imperialism and is favouring
the most impoverished sectors of society.

It has been firm in opposition to Plan Colombia, to the FTAA,
to the war against Iraq and it is playing an important role within OPEC, in
defence of the interests of the oil producing countries.

Regarding the designs of imperialism and in spite of the
eagerness of the oligarchy and the Venezuelan reactionaries, it holds high the
contribution and mutual aid with the Cuban revolution.

These facts have provoked the rage of the U.S. monopoly
groups, of the Yankee government, of the oligarchy and the traditional political
parties, of the reactionaries who have been developing from the start of the
Chávez government, a ferocious attack that is trying to oust it.

For that purpose, they have managed to involve in anti-Chávez
activity a good part of the middle layers of the population, the professionals
and a sector of the working class. Those social sectors long for security, they
fear the rise of the oppressed, and they are feeding their discontent due to the
manifestations of the crisis that is shaking Venezuela.

The actions of imperialism are being carried out by all
means, legal and illegal.

A great part of these policies are created by the big media,
the press, radio and television that hour after hour, fabricated events and
attacked Chávez, his government and its work.

It is instigating and penetrating the barracks in the search
of soldiers who will openly take up opposition to Chávez and utilizing them like
a spearhead; it is trying to subvert the armed forces and organise a blow
against Chávez.

It is forming, destroying and reconstituting social and
political alliances in order to unify all the right-wing and reactionary forces.

The visible head of the Opposition is the Chamber of Commerce
which represents the guilds of businessmen and bankers and the upper hierarchy
of the Catholic Church. It also involves the traditional parties, the trade
union bureaucracy; the renegades from the political formations of the left; some
formerly left-wing and revolutionary political organisations.

The Bush government, the U.S. Embassy and, the CIA are the
puppet masters who handle and direct the actions of the Venezuelan
reactionaries. The Cuban exiles, the Colombian paramilitaries also form part of
the forces that are intensely active against the government of Chávez.

On the other side are the popular masses, the working class,
the peasantry and the underemployed, the oppressed and broad layers of the youth
who are taking as their own the work of the government.

In Venezuela there is now taking place a profound and general
social and political process that is polarising society. The struggle expresses
itself on all fronts: in the sphere of ideas, in political confrontation, in the
streets and plazas.

IX. This social and political confrontation has been
developing since 1998 and is taking place in different fronts and levels.

In the electoral plane the Government of Chávez has called 6
elections which have each shown the support of the Venezuelan people for his
government.

He has called a Constituent Assembly and elaborated a New
Political Charter.

He was subjected to a new presidential election and was
ratified by a majority of the population. He is organising the population into
Bolivarian Circles and in that way he is building popular support for his
government.

The opposition has participated actively in these processes
and each time they have been defeated at the polls.

Organised by the U.S. government and the CIA, by the church
hierarchy, by the Chamber of Commerce and with the complicity of a group of
officers, a coup d’etat took place in April of 2002 that arrested Chávez and
formed a new government. The poor of Caracas and the ranks of the Armed Forces
restored the government and defeated the intended coup.

In December of 2002 and January of 2003 a bosses lockout was
organised that tried to bring down the Venezuelan economy and this to oust
Chávez. It failed in its attempt.

Using a constitutional recourse the Opposition pressed by
all means for the convocation of a referendum recalling the mandate of President
Chávez. That took place in August of 2004 and, once again, Chávez was ratified
by an overwhelming majority.

The reactionary forces did not yield in their attempts to
defend the interests of the oligarchy and imperialism and they will continue in
their work.

In Venezuela one of the great battles against imperialism is
being waged and we the proletarian revolutionaries use this situation to support
the workers and the youth, the government of Chávez to the extent that he
perseveres on a patriotic and democratic line.

X. The government of Chávez is opposed to the United
States and its imperialist policies. It is evident that that confrontation is
circumscribed to specific spheres of dependence and that questions exist that
are not touched upon and in which the proposals of the international monopolies
are continuing in force.

In any case, by its attitude towards the national interests
one can characterise the government of Chávez as patriotic nationalist.

It is a government that has been legitimised in seven
electoral processes, ratified by the will of the majority of the Venezuelan
people.

We Marxist-Leninists are clear that in Venezuela a revolution
is not developing much less a social revolution of the proletariat. The
government of Chávez is not a revolutionary government. It is a matter of a
democratic revolutionary process. It is a democratic and patriotic process that
is mobilising millions of people which could develop toward a social revolution.
For that to occur one must develop the subjective conditions, particularly the
political and ideological leadership of the party of the proletariat on the
revolutionary process to the seizure of power.

XI. The Venezuelan process is unfolding in an
international situation characterised by the recovery and development of the
revolutionary movement of the working class and peoples, by the sharp crisis of
imperialism.

In Latin America in particular, the events in Venezuela have
a significant importance. The ruling classes, the reactionaries and the
opportunists characterize Chávez as a ‘communist,’ as a puppet of Fidel, as
anti-democratic and authoritarian. We the peoples, the workers and youth, the
progressives and democrats, the revolutionaries and communists, understand the
struggle of the Venezuelan people as part of ours fight for freedom.

XII. In this process, the Red Flag Party has taken an
active part.

It has characterised the government of Chávez as an
instrument of the finance capital and proponents of neo-liberal policies.

It maintains that it is social resentment that raises the
revanchism of the impoverished sectors and is provoking clashes among
Venezuelans.

It claims that is an anti-democratic, pro-fascist government
that is utilizing demagogy, populism, paramilitary groups of the masses (the
Bolivarian circles), and the armed forces for repression.

It participated in the presidential elections in which Chávez
was ratified, supporting Arias, the candidate of the Yankees, the right wing and
reaction.

It played an important role in the coup of April of 2001,
forming part of the conspiracy that tried to oust Chávez.

It was allied with Democratic Action and the bureaucracies in
the union elections.

It was present and active in the bosses’ lockout of 2003.

It worked actively in the collection of signatures and in the
referendum to revoke Chávez.

It is part of the National Coordinator of the Opposition. In
all these activities, it objectively coincides with the policies and actions of
imperialism, of the CIA and the U.S. Embassy, of the oligarchy, the Chambers of
Commerce and bankers, the top layers of the Catholic Church, the
Social-Christian party and social-democracy. It is on the side of the enemies of
the people.

XIII. We the proletarian revolutionaries have the
responsibility to organise and make the revolution. In that activity we
endeavour to organise the working class, the other working classes, by educating
them politically and leading them to the social and political struggle, in an
uninterrupted process that allows us to accumulate forces and victoriously
confront imperialism and capitalism, to defeat them and build socialism.

The process of the accumulation of forces is not a simple
question. It demands that we communists involve ourselves actively in social and
political life, to keep in mind the social movement and the relation of forces,
to establish a policy of unity with all classes and social and political sectors
interested in the revolution, to form agreements and commitments with other
forces with the objective of confronting the main enemy. In all these activities
we proletarian revolutionaries start from the interests of the working class and
people, from Marxist-Leninist positions and we take care not to mistake the road
and the target of our actions. Under no circumstances can we place ourselves on
the side of imperialism against the masses, on the side of the ruling classes
against the peoples.

XIV. It is clear to everyone and every organisation that
U.S. imperialism, the government of Bush, its apparatus of control and espionage
are conspiring openly against the government of Chávez and that they are
utilising all kinds of resources and methods.

Likewise it is sufficiently clear that the Chamber of
Commerce represents the interests of the big bourgeoisie; that the traditional
parties, the COPEI and AD, are instruments of the ruling classes.

Red Flag not only fights the government of Chávez but is
explicitly united with the activity of the reactionary and pro-imperialist
forces. It is part of the National Coordinator of the Opposition.

XV. The international nature of the working class, the
struggle against imperialism and capitalism, the immediate, medium-range and
strategic objectives of the revolutionary proletariat make the Communist Party a
detachment of the world revolution in each country, in which they are waging a
revolutionary struggle.

The Marxist -Leninist Party is the firm and persistent
fighter for proletarian internationalism.

The class nature of the revolutionary party of the
proletariat demands its right to actively participate in the analysis of the
international situation, to take part in the cause of the working class and
peoples in all countries, to express its support and solidarity with the
fighters for freedom and democracy, of joining its forces and those of the
working class and peoples in the respective countries and on an international
scale for the fight against imperialism.

We, the parties and organizations which make up the
International Conference, are fundamentally fulfilling this responsibility.

In the concrete case of Venezuela, the voice of the
proletarian revolutionaries has strongly condemned the aggression of
imperialism, its attempts to oust by force the democratic government of Hugo
Chávez; it has saluted and supported the people of Venezuela in their heroic
struggles for self-determination and the defence of their sovereignty.

XVI. The fulfilment of its internationalist
responsibilities by the Marxist-Leninist parties does not in any way mean
intervening in the authority of each of them to elaborate the revolutionary
policy in their own country. If points of view differ from the opinions and
resolutions of the party in its country, frank and fraternal discussion is
necessary that will help in the clarification of the problems.

One cannot impose a policy on the parties in their respective
countries, but in the same way, one cannot reject outright the opinions of other
organisations and parties. We communists can and should debate our
appreciations, we are obliged to defend Marxism-Leninism and its application in
the revolutionary struggle, to demarcate positions from those of revisionism and
opportunism. This is also one of the consistent practices of proletarian
internationalism.

In this respect, the Norms of the Conference indicate:

‘Things are clear: Our Movement and the general Conference
respect and should be respected by the rules of each member party. Likewise our
parties and organisations recognise and respect the rules of the each one and at
the same time they should recognise and respect the rules of the others.

But it should also be clear that the formation of opinions,
both on the international situation and on that of an individual country, the
expression of an opinion on the situation and the work, to formulate criticisms
or take collective decisions, is not wrong. On the contrary, it should be
considered a right and a responsibility.

In the same way, each party can criticise the work of another
in its own country and observe how it applies the collective decisions. These
are the minimum conditions for an international movement and this cannot be
considered an interference in its internal matters’.

XVII. Regarding the situation in Venezuela and the
political activities of Red Flag, there have been discussions of a bilateral,
multilateral and regional character and even at the level of the Conference.
Those debates have allowed us to understand better that reality.

The X Plenum of the International Conference of
Marxist-Leninists Parties and Organisations, on discussing this problem,
expresses its solidarity with the people of Venezuela in defence of their
sovereignty and self-determination and rejects the intervention of U.S.
imperialism and the reactionary policy of the oligarchy; it expresses its
conviction that the working class and people will find the certain road of
national and social liberation and, they will be endowed with their vanguard,
the revolutionary party of the proletariat.

X Plenum of the Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and
OrganisationsEcuador, December of 2004

Resolution on the Free Trade Area of the Americas

1. The inter-imperialist rivalry for control of markets
and spheres of influence, and for world hegemony, has been expressed recently,
among others ways, through the formation of commercial pacts, treaties and
agreements, such as the one that the United States has been trying to impose
since 1990, known since 1994 as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), with
which U.S. imperialism is trying to subject a market of 800 million people to
its interests.

2. In view of the delays that the process of the
formation of the FTAA has undergone, primarily as a consequence of the
resistance of the working class and peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean,
U.S. imperialism has promoted bilateral and mini-multilateral agreements with
various countries in the region, concretised in the formation of the Free Trade
Agreement, which relies on the support of the local bourgeoisies.

3. These treaties, like the FTAA, are leading to greater
dependence of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, at the same time
as they lead to higher profits through the super-exploitation of the workers and
peoples, and through the further looting of the natural resources of the region.
This is leading to a further sharpening of the crisis of every sort, with a
corresponding increase in unemployment, hunger and misery of the popular masses.

Therefore, we call:

1. On the working class and peoples of Latin America and
the Caribbean to continue developing in a multilateral manner actions of the
masses to denounce and fight the objectives that U.S. imperialism is pursuing
with the Free Trade Agreement and the FTAA.

2. To make efforts to advance the unity of the working
class, democratic and progressive forces, and the people in general, as an
alternative to the union of the bourgeoisies and their governments, aligned with
the objectives of imperialism.

3. To make the fight against the FTAA and the Free Trade
Agreement an integral part of the national, democratic and revolutionary
struggle to put an end to imperialist oppression and capitalist domination. In
this way the Marxist-Leninist communists know how to honourably fulfil our
historic responsibilities.

No to the reactionary European Constitution! Long live
international solidarity!

The European Union has taken one step further towards the
formation of a superpower that competes with U.S. imperialism and the other
imperialist powers and that oppresses the peoples of the neo-colonies,
especially in Africa.

With the European Union expanded to 25 members, the process
of ratification of the Constitution has begun. This Constitution affirms the
neo-liberal character of this programme which fulfils the designs of the big
monopolies.

This is a new step after the Common Market and the
introduction of the Euro. This will reinforce the competition among the workers,
the decline in salaries, the general liquidation of social and labour rights and
will continue the process of privatisation.

The Constitution seeks to give the European Union the
military capacity to support the economic interests of the monopolies of Europe
throughout the world.

The Constitution concentrates political power in the hands of
the bourgeoisie of the big imperialist countries. It is a threat to the
democratic rights of the peoples.

The popular opposition to this Constitution is developing in
all of Europe.

Together with the working class and peoples of Europe we say

‘No’ to a Europe of the monopolies and of reaction.

No to the Constitution! Yes to international solidarity!

The Imperialist Plan for the Middle East

The plan for the Middle East is a plan of aggression, looting
and dividing up, also called ‘Plan for the broader Middle East and North Africa’
.which U.S. imperialism is putting into practice since the intervention and
occupation of Iraq.

United States imperialism presents this plan as a plan to
support democracy, economic opening and for the development of peace, prosperity
and human rights in those countries. But the peoples of the world already know
this demagogy about peace, prosperity and human rights practiced during the
period of a ‘new world order’ and know that from there arise aggressions,
occupations and looting.

The plan includes 22 countries, from Morocco to the countries
of the Caucasus. More than 70% of the oil reserves of the world are in this
region, which is a crossroads for the transport of energy.

U.S. imperialism is interested in this region essentially to
monopolise its wealth in oil and gas; to obtain these it is utilising all means
(including interventions and occupations, as in Iraq).

One of the objectives of the United States with this plan is
to reinforce its positions in the region surpassing that of other imperialist
powers. This plan foresees giving an important role to Turkey as a ‘model
country’ given the strategic character of its regime reflected in the strength
of its army and the existence of a liberal Islamic government. Turkey is
considered a bridge into this region.

The people of Turkey, as the other peoples of the region,
will not accept this plan for the Middle East because behind it are hidden the
aggression, looting and dividing up dictated by U.S. imperialism.

Our Conference considers this plan to be a new plan of
aggression by U.S. imperialism and condemns it as such.

We manifest our support to the peoples of that region who are
fighting against the intervention, occupation and looting practiced by
imperialism.

Resolution on the Western Sahara

The X Plenary of the International Conference of
Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations, at the same time as it gives its
solidarity to the just struggles of the people of the Sahara and its legitimate
representative the POLISARIO FRONT, manifests its rejection of the manoeuvres
that U.S. imperialism is carrying out together with the French and Spanish
government.

Without respecting the decisions of the UN, it is trying to
convert the WESTERN SAHARA into a colony of Morocco.

We demand the holding of the referendum that has been delayed
for ten years, which will allow the people of the SAHARA to obtain
self-determination so that the Saharoui Arab Democratic Republic, proclaimed in
the refugee camps in Algeria during the 1970s, can become a reality in its own
territory.

Yankees out of Iraq, Down with the Imperialist War

Iraq has been occupied for more than one year by U.S.
imperialism and its allies because the second largest reserves of oil and
natural gas in the world are found there.

This occupation (which has caused 100,000 deaths and
substantial material damage) is a result of the general crisis of capitalism,
which promotes rivalry among the imperialist monopolies for the redivision of
the world.

This military adventure is a strategic element of U.S.
imperialism to shunt aside its rivals, to subjugate the countries and peoples of
the region and to advance in its attempt to dominate the world.

The X Plenary of the Conference of Marxist-Leninists Parties
and Organisations condemns this occupation and supports all the legitimate and
just forms of resistance of the Iraqi people and demands:

The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the invading
forces from Iraq

Payment for all the damage caused to the Iraqi families and
peoples.

Statement on the Struggle of the Palestinian People

The X Plenary of the International Conference of
Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations pays homage to the memory of Yasser
Arafat who for years led the struggle of the Palestinian people. His death has
given rise to much speculation about the immediate future of Palestine. However,
that heroic people, forged in resistance against the Nazi Zionist State of
Israel, is continuing its struggle to win its freedom, its right to have its own
State, the recovery of its territories occupied by Israel since 1967 and the
return of those who have been exiled.

The tenacious struggle of the Palestinian people has the
support and solidarity of our parties and organisations as well as that of the
peoples of the world. Faced with that, is the foolishness and cowardice of the
so-called democratic countries which accept, with timid protests, the ferocious
and savage repression of the Israeli State supported and maintained by U.S.
Imperialism. This Imperialism, together with its Zionist protégé, violates and
ignores the resolutions of the UN and cynically characterises the Palestinian
fighters as terrorists, while they practice selective assassination, torture
authorised by law, the bombardment of the population, the planned destruction of
settlements and refugee camps, tearing up agricultural plantations, olive
groves, etc.

However, nothing can stop the just struggle of the
Palestinian people, which is advancing against wind and tide and will end in
victory.

Message of Greetings to the 5th Congress of the Party
of Labour of Iran (Toufan)

The X Plenary of the International Conference of the
Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations, held in Ecuador, enthusiastically
greets the holding of the Congress of the Party of Labour of Iran, the fighting
and revolutionary vanguard of the proletariat of that country.

The member parties and organisations of the Conference wishes
that this principal meeting of the Iranian communists will reaffirm itself in
Marxism-Leninism in order to analyse the complex problems that exist in Iran, in
the region of which it is part and in the world in general. This will contribute
to the strengthening of this fraternal party, as well as renew enthusiasm that
will promote the tasks of the revolution and socialism.

The leaders and members of the fraternal party are consistent
fighters for the cause of democracy and socialism, in which they have gained
much experience. For this attitude they have been repressed continually, both by
the bloodthirsty dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlevi, at the service of U.S.
imperialism, and by the dictatorship of fundamentalist Islam of the ayatollahs.
But, in spite of the assassinations, imprisonments and other forms of
repression, the comrades of the PLI have stood firm and persevered in the ideal
of the revolutionary struggle and socialism.

For these reasons, in a country and region in which the
popular struggle is growing and the perspectives of the revolution are
expanding, we member parties and organisations of the Conference send a message
of solidarity to the Iranian comrades, at the same time as we encourage them to
continue on the road of struggle with the firm conviction that the revolution is
possible.

Success, comrades.

Resolution on the Ivory Coast

The reactionary civil war that has been developing in the
Ivory Coast for two years has become aggravated.

There is a crisis in the French neo-colonial system. In the
Ivory Coast, one of its manifestations is the confrontation between bourgeois
parties and their armed factions to seize or hold on to power. To reach their
objectives they utilize various means: the development of chauvinism and
xenophobia, the division of the population on ethnic and religious bases, etc.

In the context of open war, French imperialism always speaks
of ‘peace’ and ‘national reconciliation’ while it is reinforcing its military
presence in a very aggressive way (destruction of airplanes of the Armed Forces
of the Ivory Coast Government and attacks with live bullets on the civilian
population demonstrating against the French presence in that country).

French imperialism is defending its economic and strategic
interests that are important in the Ivory Coast in opposition to other rival
imperialist powers, particularly U.S. imperialism.

The Ivory Coast is a country where there are no rights. It is
divided into two parts: the north of the country is controlled by the ‘rebels’
(their official name is ‘Force Nouvelles’ New Forces) and the south of the
country is controlled by the National Armed Forces and the present government.
Both parties are reactionary.

The government has taken the road of fascism as can be seen
by the arbitrary arrests, tortures and the hunt for members of the Revolutionary
Communist Party of the Ivory Coast; also the assassination of members such as
Abib Dodo, who was secretary general of the Union of Communist Youth of the
Ivory Coast.

The country is totally plunged into an anti-popular and
reactionary civil war with a serious risk that of expanding to the whole west
African region, with dramatic consequences for the peoples. Many of the
thousands of people who have been displaced and are refugees have been exposed
to epidemics and famine with no protection; they have also been victims of
massacres.

The X Plenary of the Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties
and Organisations meeting in Ecuador, in December of 2004:

Denounces the reactionary civil war in the Ivory Coast and
demands that THIS WAR STOP IMMEDIATELY.

Denounces the aggression of French imperialism and demands
the withdrawal of the French military bases, French troops and other foreign
and mercenary military forces.

Reaffirms its solidarity with the struggle of the Ivory
Coast people, with the Revolutionary Communist Party of the Ivory Coast and
with the Union of Communist Youth.

Calls on the international proletariat and peoples of the
world to support the struggle of the proletariat and peoples of the region of
West Africa against the reactionary civil war, for economic and social rights,
for freedom and genuine independence.